Back to North Carolina's Fort Hampton-- Part 1: Recruiting for the Army in the State

From N.C. War of 1812.

It's been awhile since I've been writing about this fort as I have been covering Michigan's Fort Gratiot, which was designed by Charles Gratiot, the same man who engineered Fort Hampton.  Then, of course, I wrote some about the Salt Battery at Youngstown, New York, along what was called the Niagara Frontier during the war.

Many of the soldiers serving at Fort Hampton were from North Carolina.

U.S. Army Major William S. Hamilton was appointed to the rank of colonel and placed in charge of recruiting for the state of North Carolina.

Col.Hamilton considered it an opportunity for those with "a pure spirit and sacred impulse."  He promised he would equip volunteers into the U.S. Army in "Rifle dress and give you your favorite weapon, and you will cover yourselves with glory."

Pay for the enlistees ran from $8 to $12 a month, plus they would get a $124 bounty for enlisting and 160 acres of land when the war was over.

This land, of course, was in the west and went a long way toward getting new settlers to the frontier areas.

--Brock-Perry